Emily covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Andie felt like crying herself. The story was familiar. They’d been in the same position when her own mother had begged Jane not to sell Tides. Suddenly she felt the tenuous bond she’d formed with Emily tighten.
She slipped her arm around Emily’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. We can make this work. I’ll come up with something.”
She’d helped Jane save Tides. Could she help Emily save her house too?
Chapter Fourteen
Andie left the Thompsons’ and headed to visit her mother at Tall Pines. She needed some time to come up with a plan for the Thompson house. Hopefully she hadn’t hastily made a promise she couldn’t keep.
She’d called Frank Fowler and cancelled the auction. His annoyance turned to sympathy when she mentioned Damien Carruthers was behind the cancellation. Turned out he’d had some run-ins with Damien, too, so he agreed not to charge Emily for his wasted time. He’d offered to bring the items to his auction hall, but that wasn’t going to happen by Saturday when they would have had the auction here at the estate. His hall was booked three months out, so Emily wouldn’t get any money from him in time to pay the bills.
Andie peeked into Sadie Thompson’s room on her way to her mother’s. Sadie was sleeping peacefully in her green recliner, the television remote clutched in her hand. She looked so relaxed, worry-free. Renewed determination surged in Andie when she thought of how Emily had described Sadie lighting up when she brought her to visit her home. She had to help them keep that house. But how?
They’d saved Tides by advertising to get more guests and including events and weddings in their venue. The situation at the Thompsons’ was totally different. It had never been an inn and wasn’t set up like Tides was with bathrooms for each room. Not to mention there was no online presence, no Yelp reviews, and the layout just wasn’t set up to accommodate guests. Since there was no money for renovations, Andie didn’t see how anything like that could happen. Shane had offered to help with anything, but she couldn’t ask him to take on a big job like that.
Then again, Sadie had already sectioned off part of the house. Maybe Emily could use that section for something like an Airbnb? Still, they’d have to do a lot of expensive work to get that set up, and bills were looming.
Laughter drifted out of her mother’s room, and Andie arrived to discover Claire and her boyfriend, Rob Bradford, entertaining Addie. A white bakery bag sat on the table, and a chocolate chip muffin—her mother’s favorite—sat in front of Addie.
“…and then she said… why not put the daisies in the pantry!” Addie slapped her knee and giggled while Rob and Claire convulsed with laughter. Good to see that her mother hadn’t lost her ability to tell jokes. If, in fact, it was an actual joke. She couldn’t tell if her mother had actually said something funny or if Claire and Rob were just being polite.
Addie looked over at Andie, her smile widening. “Bridgette! How nice of you to stop by.” Apparently today her mother thought Andie was her late sister. Oh well, as long as Addie was happy. That was all that mattered.
“Hi, everyone.” Andie edged into the small room and exchanged greetings with Claire and Rob. Claire and Jane had been best friends since they were kids, and it was nice that Claire visited Addie like she was her own mother. Andie didn’t have any childhood friends, but maybe now that she was back in Lobster Bay that would change.
“How are things going over at the Thompsons’?” Claire scooted over to make room for Andie on the bed. Rob was sitting in the only other chair aside from Addie’s.
Andie groaned. “Not too good. Turns out Damien Carruthers is one of the town events inspectors, and he shut us down.”
“Thompson?” Addie scowled. “Don’t let that Sadie Thompson tell you what to do.”
“I won’t, Mom.”
“So what are you going to do? Can you still have it later?” Rob asked.
“Yeah, but there is some urgency for money.” Andie didn’t want to go into any details, as it wasn’t her place to talk about the Thompsons’ financial problems. She didn’t need to, though. Rob and Claire weren’t the type to pry, so they simply nodded and didn’t press further.
“I wish I could figure something out to help them. That house needs some work, and there are great antiques inside, but it’s more than I can handle at my little shop.”
Addie snorted. “Help Sadie? Ha! She always did think she was better than us because her house was older. Lots of junk in the attic.Herhouse had a secret passage and lots of history. Talked like that thing was some kind of a museum. I was in there plenty of times, and it’s just a bunch of old junk.”
Her mother never forgot who Sadie was, but Andie never knew whether Addie would think that Sadie was her best friend, as she had been early in her life, or her biggest enemy, as she had been later in life.
Claire stood and patted Andie on the knee. “Maybe we can put our heads together and figure something out. That usually works when Jane and Maxi and I have a problem, and it just so happens I’m meeting the two of them at Splash at five o’clock. Why don’t you join us, and we’ll see what we can come up with?”
Andie’s heart swelled at the invitation, and she’d welcome having people to toss around ideas with. “Thanks, that sounds great.”
“Okay, see you then.” Claire and Rob said their goodbyes to Addie and left Andie to chat with her mother.
When Andie left two hours later after settling her mother in her recliner for a nap, she was in much better spirits. Addie’s good mood had been like sunshine for her soul, and the prospect of hashing over her problems with Jane, Claire, and Maxi at the beach bar they frequented made things seem not so insurmountable.
She ran into Jules Whitmore sitting on a bench outside Tall Pines. Jules had her head bent and was reading something. She looked a little down in the dumps.
“Hey, everything all right with your grandma?” Andie asked, remembering that she’d mentioned her grandmother was in failing health.
Jules looked up, wide brown eyes thoughtful. “Yes, thanks. Well, as good as they can be. She loved the Frozen Charlottes.”
